Bo le lavabo

"Bo le lavabo (WC Kiss)"
Single by Lagaf'
from the album Le Lavabo
Released March 1990
Format CD single, 7" maxi, 12" maxi
Recorded 1989
Genre House
Length 3:50
Writer(s) Lil Louis
B. Bayle
Lagaf'
Certification Gold France, 1990
Lagaf' singles chronology
"Bo le lavabo (WC Kiss)"
(1990)		 "La Zoubida"
(1991)

"Bo le lavabo (WC Kiss)" is a 1990 novelty song recorded by the French TV presenter and humorist Lagaf'. It was his debut single and achieved success in France.

Background and writing

In one of his sketches, humorist Vincent Lagaf' (Vincent Rouil), who featured on several TV programs in the 1980s and 1990s, commented on how easy it was to produce a hit single during the house period, because the repetitive music distracts the audience from the words, reduced to a bare and trivial content. The sketch had a great success, and an unpretentious and ironic single was released. Against all odds, it managed to reach number one on French Singles Chart.[1]

The lyrics are deliberately very poor. In them, Lagaf' explains that, for producing a hit every year, changing the words is enough: the first year, we can sing "il est beau le lavabo" ("the sink is beautiful"), the second year, "il est laid le bidet" ("the bidet is ugly"), and the third year, we mix both versions.

The music uses a sample recorded by Lil Louis from his song "French Kiss", which was released in 1989.

After this amazing success, Lagaf' released a new single the following year, "La Zoubida", which was even more successful than "Bo le lavabo (WC Kiss)" (number one for 11 weeks).[2]

Chart performances

In France, the single debuted at the bottom of the chart on March 24, 1990. It progressed steadily in the chart, even if sometimes lost a few places, and eventually reached #1, on June 16. It remained only a single week at the top of the chart but stabilized in the top ten for a total of 18 weeks. It fell off the top 50 on September 29, after its 28th week. The single was certified Gold disc by the SNEP, the French certifier.[3] According to the Infodisc website, with over 400,000 copies sold,[4] the song is to date the 718th best-selling single of all time in France.[5]

Formats and track listings

CD single
  1. "Bo le lavabo (WC Kiss)" — 3:50
  2. "Bo le lavabo (WC Kiss)" (bonus) — 1:00
  3. "Bo le lavabo (WC Kiss)" (forbidden version) — 5:00
12" single
  1. "Bo le lavabo (WC Kiss)" — 3:50
  2. "Bo le lavabo (WC Kiss)" (forbidden version) — 5:00
12" maxi

A-side :

  1. "Bo le lavabo (WC Kiss)" — 3:50

B-side :

  1. "Bo le lavabo (WC Kiss)" (bonus) — 1:00
  2. "Bo le lavabo (WC Kiss)" (forbidden version) — 5:00

Certifications and sales

Country Certification Date Sales certified Physical sales
France Gold[3] 1990 400,000 444,000[4]

Charts

Chart (1990) Peak
position
French SNEP Singles Chart[6] 1
Preceded by
"Sacrifice" by Elton John		 French SNEP number one single
June 16, 1990 (1 week) 		Succeeded by
"Maldòn (la musique dans la peau)"
by Zouk Machine

References

  1. ↑ Elia Habib, Muz hit. tubes, 2002, p. 185,6 (ISBN 2-9518832-0-X)
  2. ↑ "La Zoubida," French Singles Charts Lescharts.com (Retrieved December 26, 2007)
  3. 1 2 Certifications of Lagaf's singles Chartsinfrance.net (Retrieved December 26, 2007)
  4. 1 2 Certifications of Lagaf's singles Infodisc.fr (Retrieved December 26, 2007)
  5. ↑ Infodisc.fr (Retrieved December 26, 2007)
  6. ↑ "Bo le lavabo (WC Kiss)", French Singles Chart Lescharts.com (Retrieved December 26, 2007)
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